December 2014
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2014 in review (May): “Break the silence,” and philosophers demand footnotes, not endnotes
A fundraising campaign for a victim, and a poll and discussion about footnotes.
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2014 in review (April): philosophers with a “pernicious influence,” and more sexual misconduct allegations,
A poll, and another sordid story,
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2014 in review (March/April): the harassment of RIT philosopher Larry Torcello
We ran several posts, including here, here, and here (the last being the happy ending, as it were).
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2014 in review (March): the first indications that the cyber-culture of “professional” philosophy was becoming toxic
First this, then this. "Due process" was now a "dirty word" in certain circles, a tragic and short-sighted turn of events. (By early April, this had become amusing, with the first appearance of the New Infantilism.)
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Overall law school enrollments in two cities: Chicago, Philadelphia
Blog Emperor Caron reports the trends.
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2014 in review (February): Criticisms of the Site Committee Report on Colorado
We hosted, to the unhappiness of some, a discussion of the controversial Report. Shortly after the discussion began, I received several e-mails from Sally Haslanger who reported that she and others were unable to identify one of the participants, "Jane Brownstein," despite sleuthing to identify "her". In fact, it turned out that name was a pseudonym, though…
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In Memoriam: Scott W. Austin (1953-2014)
A specialist in ancient Greek philosophy, known in particular for his work on Parmenides, Professor Austin taught at Boston University and then, for the last quarter-century, at Texas A&M University. I will post links to memorial notices when they appear. UPDATE: There is an obituary, as well as other tributes, on his Facebook page. (Thanks…
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End of the year blogging
Sorry for the relative paucity of new postings, between Xmas and other holiday activites, plus the fact that classes resume January 5, and several paper deadlines, I've been mostly off-line, as I know many others are at this time of year. I may have some new items over the next week, but I have mostly…
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Your FBI at work…
…with the help of Ayn Rand. (Thanks to Michael Swanson for the pointer.)
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Learning from faculty with practical experience…
…at George Mason. (Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)
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Postmodern Xmas…
…once again. ADDENDUM: And don't forget "politically correct and non-legally binding holiday wishes."
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The boycott statement from September contained falsehoods (plus the actual lawyer letter to Jenkins and Ichikawa)
In November, I retained one of the leading defamation lawyers in Canada to explore my legal remedies for the misstatements of fact in the boycott statement from September. As I noted on October 8, the fact that half the University of British Columbia philosophy department did not sign on to this letter on behalf of their…
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Female evaluators in the PGR
MOVING TO FRONT FROM DECEMBER 3, SINCE FROM CORRESPONDENCE IT IS CLEAR SOME PEOPLE MISSED THIS There is no evidence we have ever seen that the gender of the evaluator affects the evaluations. About 16% of full-time philosophy faculty in the U.S. are women, and about 14% of the evaluators for the 2014 PGR were…
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Pitt Philosophy news…
Robert Brandom (philosophy of language and mind, history of modern philosophy) has been awarded an Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis by the Humboldt Foundation in the amount of 250,000 euros. In addition, Thomas Berry (hsitory of modern philosophy, social & political philosophy), currently a Lecturer at the University of Toronto, will become Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of…
I just want to address this comment: > What initially presents itself as impressive intelligence can, upon closer inspection by…